I somehow managed to go my whole life, right up until last weekend, without going berry picking.
Last Saturday, Fave and I piled into the car with two of our favorites, Erin and Jeremy, and drove a few miles outside of town to get our hands dirty. Strawberry fields are lovely and oddly smelly, and on cloudy days they make for some dark and dramatic fruity photos.
Here’s the Cheap Thrill deal with berry picking, although I suspect the rest of you are already all over it: if you’re willing to do the work (and it was pretty easy, though a little icky at moments, and only took 45 minutes), you can go home with 12 lbs of berries for $12. A dollar a pound for berries is sort of phenomenal, don’t you think? We now have a freezer full of future jam. It’s fabulous.
You can also pick up other lovely fruits at many of the farms, and feel super close to nature and awesome about the whole deal. And then you can come make jam with me! Win win!
Strawberry season is fleeting, but tons of other berries are ripening as we speak. Who wants to go blackberry pickin’?
Here’s a great list of places to go pick near Portland.
I vote we go raspberry and blueberry picking this year!
Berry picking is one of my favorite things about living in Oregon! Growing up in Colorado, local berries weren’t even a concept for me.
But I now call myself an expert berry picker and an almost-expert-jammer. :~) If you ever need someone to jam with, I’m in!
Oh yes please! I’m a total novice… please help! 🙂
A few things I’d like to say:
1) The picture of the hair arm holding berries totally caught me off guard. I honestly had to think about the fact that it was probably Fave’s arm, lol! I’m on some potent meds right now, so please forgive how slow I am.
2) The moment I read *Berry Picking*, I flipped! I’m from Texas. I live in a very, horrifyingly dry part of Texas. Berry picking is unheard of! The idea that in a few years I’ll be able to go pick my own fruits just blows my mind!
3) I’ve made jam since I was a kid. We had a plum tree growing up and it was my job to pick the lower branches when I was a wee one. The smell of boiling fruit mixed with sugar is almost intoxicating.
and finally…
4) I’m so envious of you right now! Our average is about 104 degrees out here, so even if we had berries to pick, they’d be ready for granola, not for jams!
Enjoy your jams/jellies and post lots of pics!!
I’m so excited for you to moooooove here! 🙂 And yes, it is Fave’s arm. 🙂 Those aren’t my man hands. I can’t WAIT to make jam… let me know if you have any tips!
Wishing you ice cubes and air conditioning and polar bears and other shivery things.
Oh, yum! Looks like so much fun!
I have to admit I spent a good ten minutes after church yesterday reaching over someone’s fence and plucking the ripe blackberries off their bushes…. yum. Oh, and I want to start the next Portland trend- you are the very one who can trend it first. Canning!! 🙂 I mean, for the rest of us who have never really done it but now have gardens and freezers full of berries we picked ourselves. Yea!